This past September, I was fortunate enough to go on my 2nd Fresh Air Retreat with some amazing bloggers and influencers. The experience was amazing and I can't wait to share some things we did, what we learned and the food we tried with you!
Laura Costa took all the wonderful photos included in this post!
Being a food blogger can feel really isolating. Most days, it’s just you juggling twenty different roles, googling how to do everything, and hoping you’re doing at least one thing right.
Feedback is rare, and appreciation is minimal. Usually, only from a kind stranger on Instagram. It’s a lot. And honestly, it can eat you alive if you’re not careful. Which is the exact reasons why I chose to attend this retreat!
First, The Amazing Hosts
The Fresh Air Retreat is the ultimate blogger getaway, a chance to recharge, refocus, and fall back in love with what you do.
It was created by food bloggers Liz Della Croce and Lauren Grier to be an exclusive and immersive experience for other food bloggers who want to level up their business while relaxing, learning, and making new connections.
The Food
At the retreat, you get your own personal chef, Chef Trimmel, who was incredible. I have GF and DF allergies, and he made sure to meet these restrictions. I felt pampered the entire time with ready-made food served to me. It's not something I get often at home, so I appreciated it very much!!
Chef served breakfast, lunch and dinner, if we weren't going out for dinner at an amazing restaurant. And all the food was SO delicious. The first night we had an entire Thanksgiving meal, which was so nostalgic and comforting. Great food and great memories.
The Sponsors
The sponsors of this Fresh Air Retreat were: Butterball, Current Backyard, Happy Egg, SweeTango.
Meeting brands is always one of my favorite parts of retreats because I learn so much about the products and try their food! I learned so much about the sweet, crisp apples from SweeTango, the chickens raised by Happy Egg, and a frozen turkey you can put directly in the oven thanks to Butterball! What?! 🤯
Kaitlin Janes was also there and did a wonderful presentation about how to work with brands and land more brand deals. She is a brand manager who works with bloggers/influencers to obtain brand deals!
Mediavine puts ads on blogs so bloggers can monetize all their hard work! They handle all the behind-the-scenes tech stuff that makes those ads actually make money without slowing down my site or making it look spammy. Think of them as the middleman between me (the blogger) and the brands who want to advertise.
Grocer's List- I talk about all the time! It's an auto-responder tool, like ManyChat, but for geared towards helping food bloggers scale their social media and make more money. It's awesome and Ben, the founder, is so helpful if you want to get started!
Let's Talk Current Backyard
At the retreat, one of our sponsors, Current®, showed up with their slick Model P Smart Pizza Oven—and yep, they let us test it out. 🙌🏻 I volunteered (obviously) to make pizzas for everyone, and here is how it turned out.
Their Pizza Oven is kind of a game changer. It heats up to 850°F, so you get that wood-fired, crispy crust in about two minutes—without the smoke, mess, or hassle. It’s compact, easy to clean, and works indoors or outside!
You can also switch between five cooking modes—Neapolitan, New York, Thin Crust, Frozen, or Broil—and even control it from your phone through their smart app. (How cool?!) Oh, and you can peek through a dual-pane window to watch your pizza bubble up without losing heat.
Plus, you can connect it to your wifi so you can monitor and control the grill from anywhere. How awesome is that?!
I love making pizza all the time at home in our pizza oven so I felt pretty comfortable popping this baby in. With that said, pizza my oven at home does not cook the pizza as uniformly or quickly as this guy this. Plus, I love that you can see it through the glass!
Two minutes later, it was bubbly, slightly charred (the way I like it), and oozing with cheese. I have to say, I am normally gluten free, but I made a sacrifice to try it out and it was AMAZING!
Doesn't it look delicious?! It's great for entertaining too. Just give everyone their own mini dough mound to roll out and top with an assortment of toppings. Then have them pop it in the oven. You will be able to bang out 5 pizzas in ten minutes! Who wouldn't love that as a host??
Other Retreat Activities
I want to talk about some other things we did at the retreat that we're food or drink-related!
Liz and Lauren put together a very practical and efficient intinerary each day of the retreat. They sent this out to us a week prior with information on who was attending as well as travel plans and a breakdown of what to expect each day. (This made packing very easy!!) 🙂
They made sure we stuck to the timeline which I appreciated but still offered enough downtime to spend by ourselves and with the other attendees.
Yoga
They set up a yoga session one of the mornings followed by some coffee and breakfast. This was completely optional! It was such a nice opportunity to take some deep breaths and appreciate the birds chirping in the background.
After yoga, while we waited for breakfast, we got a chance to catch up and get to know the other bloggers more.
Round Tables
We had a round table session during the retreat. There we were able to relax and ask each other any questions as well as share some tips or advice. I asked what was one thing they would do differently if they were to start their blog today. (Most said focus on SEO earlier!) 😉
Pool & Relaxation Time
We had more than enough time to relax and unwind from the daily tasks of a food blogger. The weather was beautiful so pool time was a must. We sat by the pool while chatting and sipping on some fancy drinks (thanks to Liz)!
Retreat Recap
If you’re on the fence about applying for the Fresh Air Retreat — do it. Seriously. It was one of those life-changing, career-reset kind of experiences. By day two, I already felt re-energized, inspired, and crystal clear on what I wanted to do next.
Before the retreat, I was totally burnt out — stuck in that “what am I even doing?” phase. This retreat was the reset button I didn’t know I needed. I left feeling grateful, fired up, and full of ideas. Huge thanks to Liz and Lauren for creating something so special.
Tried the recipe? I'd love to hear your thoughts below!